Hi all!
A few days ago, there was a great thread from a guy that managed to save the day when his R44 beltdrive gave up in the early stages of a climbout.
The discussion that followed made som great points about maybe not having to be in that difficult situation in the first place. Unfortunately, the points made where not made in a nice tone and in the end the thread that gave many helicopterpilots something to think about was deleted by the originator. I think that's a great shame, so let's try this instead:
What have you done?
You didn't listen to your inner voice, telling you something is wrong?
Made a bad decision?
Made a good decision?
Crashed a helicopter or just bent it a little bit?
Wished you had said no?
And so on...
I guess that some of you does it daily, while others never have anything happen to them. (Why is that?) Instead of only reading AAIB-reports about other pilots hard learned experiences, how about sharing your worst or best moments in a helicopter, from a safety-point of view?
There will of course be some very experienced pilots who seen most of it anyway, so nothing will be new to them. Imagine if the newcomers could be able to tap into some of that experience that otherwise have to be learnt the dangerous and expensive way, it might actually save lives. And if you think that you know and seen it all, I hope you have retired...
The best thing is if it's your own experience, so that the thoughts and actions are accurate. The next best thing is if it's happened to a "friend"
. If you want to comment on someone elses mistakes, feel free to do it, but keep it polite. By using that 20/20 hindsight, we might actually have a better vision of what's going on when, or if, it happens in realtime.
Let's make this a great thread
/2beers